Oil & Gas: A discouraging history

Past mistakes in the hydrocarbons auction must be avoided

The government is set to put the exploration licences for 42 hydrocarbon blocks up for auction in the next round of its licensing process. The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons has announced that 26 oil and gas blocks and 16 blocks for coal-bed methane will be available in this round. The oil and gas blocks might be of particular interest; three of them are on land, and of the remaining, 15 are “ultra deep-water”. The government clearly hopes that there will be reasonable private sector participation in this auction: After meeting with representatives of the sector in Houston, Union petroleum minister